Daring Do and The Temple Beneath the Waves
by Simon S. Borderline
Summary: Daring Do is off on another adventure, but this time she has a stowaway. Will the two be able to outsmart a professional treasure hunter and his band of goons? Or will the thief she's stuck with prove to be too greedy for their own good? Introducing new Oc's Alabaster Stone and Seldom Caught.


**Ok so this is going to be an action adventure type of fanfic, for any of you who are familiar with my you'll probably know what to expect. For anyone else i'm just going to say strap in because i like action. As this was a project to help me get past my writers block i'm going to try and make it short at around 3 chapters and i will try my best to stick to my word. Anyways this story features an OC by the name of...well you'll find out. Alright so get reading and don't forget to drop me a review if you thought it was great.**

**Daring Do and The Temple Beneath**

**the Waves**

A cool night stretched out over downtown Las Pegasus as swinging jazz clubs and casinos were crammed with the evening rush of fun loving ponies with loose mouths and looser wallets. Neon lights powered by unicorn magic flashed on and off advertising everything from cheaply priced stogies to burlesque houses. The sky high buildings dared anypony to crane their heads up and try to find their end without tipping backwards. It was in the highest of these casino hotels that Daring Do had just sat down to wait for her contact, a pony who had acquired an item that was said to be worth a large sum of money. Daring ordered a virgin cocktail drink and received it almost immediately afterward along with a full course meal to her surprise.

"I've been expecting you Daring Do." The waiter whispered to her as he laid out the food with his magic. A tan colored pony with a short brown mane catered to her, he wore a clean white jacket and bow tie in sharp contrast to the image she had in her mind. Daring had heard this pony was supposed to be a thief, so naturally she expected him to have an eye patch or a scar, or maybe even just a scruffy beard but she found none of that on this pony.

"Today's course will be light appetizer consisting of a mix of a slight surprise and maple leaf and cherry tomato salad. Followed by a couple of goons and a baked potato cooked to _golden_ brown perfection, I suggest you skip the salad and dig into it. If you need me just give a holler and make sure you duck."

The pony nudged his head toward the potato before walking away briskly. Daring Do started mushing up the potato until she found what she was looking for, a small golden orb that looked like a berry. She rolled it around in her hooves trying to read the inscriptions written on it. But Daring undestood nothing and stared at the berry astonished, this was pure Saddle Arabian gold. She looked up suddenly as a new pony joined her at the table, the last pony she wanted to see tonight placed his drink in front of her.

"Alabaster Stone, you old dog, what brings you to this quaint little town?"

"I would say the same thing that brought you and your little trinket together. I should so like to have a closer look at it, do you mind?" Alabaster raised one of his eyebrows, as two muscular draft ponies came up behind her.

"No, not at all." Daring grudgingly tossed the berry over to Alabaster who let it roll onto his side of the table before putting his hoof on it. He picked it up and inspected with a monocular he pulled out of his black jacket. Daring looked at both of the ponies at her sides and tried to catch a glimpse of her contact but couldn't find him. Alabaster at last finished his inspection and placed both items inside his jacket.

"So? It was you this entire time, eh?"

"Sorry?"

"Don't pretend you don't know what I'm talking about. Every time something of moderate interest comes to my attention I find that you've already seized the opportunity to get ahead of me. Well, this time the great Daring Do is not so lucky, now you will have to trail behind me!"

"Listen Alabaster, the reason I get ahead of you isn't because I'm trying to show you up. Did you ever consider that maybe you weren't so good at being a treasure hunter?"

"Oh, please that's just ridiculous. All I need is a trusty guide and I can handle the rest myself. Speaking of guides I just so happen to have the position open if you're interested." Alabaster took a sip from his rocky drink.

"Find yourself some other sad sap Alabaster. I'm nobody's crony and I certainly don't work with frauds." Daring stood up to leave but one of the draft ponies forced her back down.

"I'm afraid I must insist." Alabaster smiled at her as his voice dropped an octave. Daring felt the force of the hoof on her left shoulder. It was clear he wasn't going to let her go without a fight, so a fight it would have to be.

"Alright Alabaster, you win." Alabaster's smile grew wider. "But first...Waiter, there's a fly in my soup!"

Alabaster became confused as he didn't see a bowl of soup anywhere on the table. Suddenly Daring Do bent down as a beam of magical energy flew over her and knocked him off his seat. His two bodyguards turned around but were quickly tackled by two other waiters of equal stature. The patrons of the restaurant became aware of the fight and jumped from their tables. When Daring came back up she saw Alabaster recover from the attack and snarl at her. His own horn started to glow purple as he began to charge an attack aimed for Do, but as soon as he let it go a silver platter flew in front of her and absorbed the attack tossing it over her head.

Daring looked in the direction it came from and saw the thief rushing over to tackle Alabaster. The two collided in an angry heap that resulted in Alabaster's loss of the golden berry. Daring saw it fly high overhead and jumped to retrieve forgetting to open her wings to cushion her fall, she landed roughly on the dessert cart.

"Hmm, blueberry pie. This has to be a sign."

The doors opened and more of Alabaster's hench ponies filled the room, to her surprise though they were immediately attacked by the other waiters and busboys in the restaurant, even the materdee became involved in the brawl. Clearly the thief had thought ahead enough to know something like this would bring trouble. But now she had to get out of here before one of Alabaster's ponies made for her, the only problem was how. The doors were blocked with bulky and not so bulky cronies and waiters, and this high up none of the windows would open. It was starting to look more and more likely that she would have to fight her way out.

"Wait! No-no-no-no-no-no..." She heard the thief crying out behind her as the two draft ponies picked him up and were carrying him over to the window. "Stop, please this is only going to hurt me!"  
Daring watched as the two ponies hefted him into the window and he slammed roughly against it before sliding back down. The ponies looked dumbfounded as he got back up.

"Ow! That really, really hurt. I told you that wasn't going to work." He blasted one of them back with more magic as the other tried to ram into him with his bulk. Luckily the thief was still nimble enough to dodge him and let him know what he felt like seconds before. This time the window cracked under his weight and Daring got an ide. Stepping off the desert cart and putting the berry in her hat she opened her wings and flew the cart into the window as fast as she could.

'_This should work right?' _Daring thought right before she hit the window as the crony chased after the thief, causing the crack to spread out like a spiderweb and bounced back. She flew back with the same speed she flew into the window and hit the floor hard causing her to lose her hat and the berry. She looked up and saw it rolling away under the hooves of the mob and lost it.

"Oh, horsefeathers." She said as she placed her hat back on her head.

One of the waiters went flying behind the bar and broke the shelf lined with bottles. Another crony was thrown into the kitchen where the chef was working on a flambe' for table six. He paid no attention to the commotion outside as he was trying hard not to burn himself, but now the fight had spilled inside and he could no longer ignore. Frustrated with the thick-head assaulting his cousin he picked up a pan and aimed for his head, unfortunately his cousin didn't see him and tried to overtake the henchman receiving the blow that was meant for the other pony.

"Hey, thanks!" The crony said as the chef covered his mouth before turning his new found rage back to him. The chef chased him around the kitchen knocking down pots and pans and bowls filled with nuts and fruits. Meanwhile his cousin tried to regain his balance as he placed a hoof on the oven. On their third lap around the kitchen the crony slipped on the nuts and fell to the floor.

"Ohoho, I've got you now my friend. You will pay for what you made me do to my cousin Frumage." The chef raised the pan over his head as he heard a clutter behind him and his cousin scream. He turned around and saw that in his attempt to stand up he had dropped the flambe dish and the oil had spilled onto the floor and set it on fire. The chef dropped the pan and went to his cousins aid as the crony sprinted out the door.

Back outside the place was still in an uproar as the once crisp white suits took on a rainbow of colors and the black suits were stained with icing and mustard, the walls and floors didn't fare any better as cakes were thrown and bottles were broken. In this sticky wet mess Daring continued to slink her way between the biggest ponies and shoved others aside in an effort to find the golden berry. At the same time the thief and Alabaster were entangled in their own personal wrestling match, each trying to gain the upper hoof in the fight. It came to the point where they became evenly matched in their grip and came face to face with each other, the only way to break the stalemate was to use their magic. Both stallions locked horns and started charging them trying to force each other back, relying solely on their magical ability.

The repulsion spell they each used though sent both of them flying to either end of the room. When they looked up they both saw only one thing besides each other, the golden berry. The world melded away into a messy confusing blur as they picked themselves up and tried to be the first to reach the berry. The chef just managed to open the door before the fire took to the path the liquor spilled behind the bar laid out for it earlier. Those not entirely engrossed in the fight saw the fire spread from behind the bar to the ground they were standing on as the bottles they broke fed the flames. In a matter of mere seconds the entire restaurant seemed to go up in flames as the fumes from the alcohol fueled it. This time everypony made for the door.

Meanwhile the two ponies were inches away from attaining their precious metal orb before Daring swooped down from above and retrieved the precious berry.

"Sorry boys, but this berry comes with me." She said as she placed the berry in her mouth and flew at the window a second time. Finally giving way after being bludgeoned so much before the window shattered against her frame and she burst out into the cool night. The sudden rush of cold air however had a second effect on the fire and caused a backdraft. From the kitchen the blaze exploded out and in the direction of the only two ponies left in the restaurant.

Not wanting to become crispy bricks of coal both ponies rushed out the window and jumped out of desperation. Their fears eased in the split second they had jumped as they saw a clear blue pool below them, however they each felt their gut drop as they saw how far below it actually was. At this point the only logical thing either pony could do was scream bloody murder and then scream some more as they fell to the earth. But the thief had a quicker reaction time due to his profession and so spotted Daring herself tumbling down further away from them. It seemed as though she herself had not entirely escaped the blast and was struggling to regain flight.

Seeing it was a way to avoid a painful belly flop he started flapping his arms awkwardly trying to make his way to her. Upon seeing this Alabaster stretched out his legs and tried to grasp at his, hoping to go with him. The thief wrapped his legs around Daring's back leg as she straightened her wings again but to no avail. Both the thief and Alabaster were clinging to her, the thief held her back leg the same way Alabaster held onto his.

"Let go you're too heavy! You're weighing me down too much!" Daring shouted as the ground rushed up to meet them and some of the ponies below became aware of the blast that came from above.

"I'm telling you to let go! Or we'll all fall to our dooms!"

The thief wasn't about to let go, he went through a lot get that berry. The least this pegasus could do was pay him for his efforts, but that wasn't going to happen if this suit was still hanging on to him. Daring might not be able to sustain the weight of two ponies, but she could deal fairly well with one at least. The thief looked back at the pony clinging onto his right leg, he picked up his left and held it over his face. Alabaster looked at his hoof wildly before shaking his head vigorously trying to plead with him, it didn't help. The thief kicked him in the face and forced his grip loose from him, immediately he felt himself slowing down and even moving onward and upward.

Daring was flying again to his relief, he also saw how Alabaster went on to plummet into the hotel pool sending up the biggest splash he had ever seen. The thief smiled as his convoy tried to shake him off.

"Alright, I'll drop you off at the nearest rooftop but then you have to let me go."

"I don't think so dollface. That berry's worth a shiny bit or two, and I intend to get my due." The thief said struggling to keep his grip.

"How about you give me this one on credit? I don't have my purse with me." Daring tried to reason with him. She also didn't have the time, if this piece of Saddle Arabian gold were to get in the wrong hands it would be big trouble for all ponykind. The treasure that this berry would uncover was more than just gold and jewels, and if she was to protect that treasure or at least get to it before Alabaster, she needed to leave for Saddle Arabia as soon as possible.

"No dice, I need payment."

"I don't have time for this I need to leave for Saddle Arabia as soon as I can. I barely have time to buy a ticket at the pier for tomorrows trip!"

"What if I get you on a boat tonight?" Daring could hardly believe her ears.

"You can get me on a boat right now?"

"I have friends, I can arrange something if you just give me back my berry."

"I'm sorry but I can't do that. I need this berry for a mission."

"Then wherever that berry goes, I go. At least until I get paid."

Daring thought this over. If she could leave tonight she would have a huge head start on Alabaster, but if she brought this thief along he could slow her down. On the other hoof, having a thief as a companion could work out for her. After all he was the one that got the berry, and he did warn her about Alabaster and helped her escape.

"Alright fine, if you can get me out of the country tonight than you can come along. But you'll have to wait until we get back to get paid, and that's only _if_ we come back."

"We'll make it back, I've never missed out a payment before and I don't plan to anytime soon." Daring nodded her head and started flapping to the harbor.

Back at the hotel swimming pool Alabaster made his way to edge and tried to catch his breath as the ponies around began questioning where he came from. Several of his henchman arrived to pull him but he shook them off.

"Where were you when that place caught on fire? What do I pay you for if not to entrust my security? I nearly died because of you!"

"But boss we stayed with the carriage like you said."

"Excuses! You're fired! The both of you! Now get me a ticket for Saddle Arabia, that mare is bound to be heading over there. If she knows what those inscriptions translated too, she'll be going after the legendary treasure of golden sun." Alabaster shook the water off and made his way to the carriage, this was one quest Daring Do wouldn't win.

"So what do you think?" The thief presented Do with the Maiden of the Sea.

"It's a tub." Daring looked at the rusty old fishing vessel. Countless barnacles were attached to its hull and its portholes had to be rusted shut with so much salt water. The paint was chipping and half the lights on board weren't even turned on. "No, you know what? I take it back, this isn't a tub, because at least a tub is clean."

"Hey you wanted a ship at the last minute and I got you one. Besides it's not all that bad, the crew is filled with decent seafaring horses, the captain's nice, and the cook's food is excellent once you get used to it. And how many times can you say you actually slept in a fishing net?"

"I wouldn't want to say it once."

"Look if you don't like it then give me back my berry."

Daring looked at the berry in her hoof but wasn't tempted in the least to give it back. She sighed before saying "When do we board?"

"Right now." He led the way to the plank and held out his front leg. "Ladies first?"

Daring rolled her eyes and walked up the plank. "Hey you know I never did get your name."

"Oh, yeah I guess not. My name's Seldom, Seldom Caught."


End file.
